Following on from our previous blog post where we discussed how businesses can utilise today’s technology to better control cash flow. Today, we will be focusing on technology that can help you better manage and controls inventories. Let’s explore.
What is Inventory Management
If your business deals with buying and selling actual goods, you are managing inventories. The goal of inventory management is to ability manage stock efficiently, this means the ability to:
- predict accurately customers’ demand, which translates to how much stock needs to order and stored in the warehouse.
- manage logistics of inventory with the supplier. This includes knowing the whereabouts of all goods.
- Eliminate excess products e.g., expiring inventories
- integrate seamlessly with the finance department in terms of raising purchase orders, recording, and paying supplier invoices
- provide reports that can help management make business decisions.
Investopedia has put together the best inventory management software for different industries.
OrderHive
OrderHive offers a one-stop-shop for Inventory management. Features range from Ordering, Purchasing, Warehousing, Invoicing & Payment, Fulfilment, and Returns management. It can help you track, and manage your orders from the 16 most popular marketplaces, and 9 most popular online stores like Shopify, WooCommerce, etc
OrderHive pricing is starting from USD 95/mo which allows you to manage up to 300 orders per month and limited integration to two categories. Price goes up to USD 500/mo with pretty much-unlimited usage on available features such as eCommerce, shipping payment, marketing, CRM, etc.
Inflow
InFlow is another all-in-one inventory management software targeting B2B businesses, including manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. InFlow is simple to set up thanks to its cloud-based Windows, web, and mobile apps. It allows businesses to track products quickly and accurately. Inventory features allow you to receive, transfer, or fulfill stock in real-time—including from iPhone or Android devices.
The downside is that InFlow has fewer integration available compared to OrderHive with limited supply chain features. It is also still limited to fewer than 30,000 orders per month. Therefore, InFlow is more suitable for small to medium businesses.
Costs start from SGD 110 a month with 2 hours set-up assistance. The highest plan is Mid-Size at SGD 607/mo with unlimited inventory location, unlimited support, and integration.
LightSpeed Retail
For retail and hospitality outlets, LightSpeed may be the inventory management tool for you. It comes with retail POS, register, and e-commerce platforms that allows user to manage in-store and online inventory, delivery, integrated payments, and accounting software to streamline the bookkeeping process.
Price starts from AUD79/mo which includes POS, 1 Registers, and payment integration which would be suitable for a small business. For accounting and API access, you would need a more comprehensive package which starts from 129 AUD/mo.
UpServe
UpServe offers features that are customised to restaurant needs, from POS, automated online ordering, mobile restaurant management, inventory, and payments. It has the ability to track ingredient use down to the ounce. This means every time you sell a dish or a drink, it tracks exactly how much ingredient has left the fridge.
Upserve also integrates with more than 40 programs, including bar monitoring, reservations, finances, staffing, and marketing.
Costs start from USD59 a month and $60 per POS Terminal
Megaventory
Megaventory targets a medium-size business, focusing on the franchise, retail, wholesale, and manufacturing industries. Included features are order fulfillment, manufacturing management, invoicing, and reporting. The inventory management feature allows users to manage multiple locations, keep check of stock levels, check supplier availability and ensure the on-time return of inventory. The order fulfillment feature helps users manage the end-to-end sales process, from quotation, purchase order, invoicing, shipping and consignment. It provides great support to help you get started and ongoing help.
Costs start from USD150 per month which offers you up to 50,000 transactions, 20 locations, 20,000 products, 20,000 clients, and 5 different integrations.
Check out each tool to see how it can help better manage your inventories, and further boost your sales growth.
